US Airlines Made Record Amounts Of Money In 2015

WASHINGTON (CBS) – The airline industry is flying high after record-high profits last year.

According to new numbers from the Department of Transportation, U.S. carriers were $25.6 billion in the black in 2015. That’s almost triple the profits of 2014.

The huge profits are all thanks to falling fuel costs, about 35 percent less than the year before.

Even though it became cheaper for airlines to fly in 2015, they still made more in fees from baggage and reservation changes, data shows. Baggage fees brought in 3.8 million, while fees for reservation changes added about $3 million to their bottom line.

Flyers aren’t getting any relief from ever-shrinking seats, either. Last month, Congress refused to step in and block airlines from continuing to make their seats smaller and pack in more people.

Airlines did collect about half a billion dollars less in fares for 2015 compared to 2014, records show.